6th Round at Mtel Masters
Ivanchuk finally held - Topalov narrows lead
The inevitable finally happened in Sofia as Vassily Ivanchuk's hot streak of 5 consecutive victories came to an end as he was held to a draw by Teimour Radjabov.
This allowed Veselin Topalov (pictured), who is also having a great tournament, to close the gap to the lead to 1 point by beating Lev Aronian for the second time in this event. The other game in the 6th round was also decisive as Ivan Cheparinov beat the fading Bu Xiangzhi.
The seventh round will see the crunch re-match as Ivanchuk takes on Topalov again. Topalov will need to avenge his loss in the first half of the event to have a realistic chance of winning the tournament.
The results in round 6:
| Ivanchuk, Vassily | - Radjabov, Teimour | ½-½ | 41 | B33 | Sicilian Sveshnikov |
| Topalov, Veselin | - Aronian, Levon | 1-0 | 70 | D47 | Queens Gambit Meran |
| Bu Xiangzhi | - Cheparinov, Ivan | 0-1 | 44 | D45 | Anti-Meran Variations |
The standings after round 6:
| Rank | Name | IRtg | FED | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Pts | vict | Res. | SB. |
| 1 | V. Ivanchuk | 2740 | UKR | * * | 1 | 1 | 1 ½ | 1 | 1 | 5,5 | 5 | 0,0 | 13,75 |
| 2 | V. Topalov | 2767 | BUL | 0 | * * | 1 | ½ | 1 1 | 1 | 4,5 | 4 | 0,0 | 8,25 |
| 3 | I. Cheparinov | 2695 | BUL | 0 | 0 | * * | ½ | ½ | 1 1 | 3,0 | 2 | 0,0 | 4,00 |
| 4 | T. Radjabov | 2751 | AZE | 0 ½ | ½ | ½ | * * | ½ | ½ | 2,5 | 0 | 0,0 | 7,75 |
| 5 | L. Aronian | 2763 | ARM | 0 | 0 0 | ½ | ½ | * * | ½ | 1,5 | 0 | 0,0 | 3,25 |
| 6 | X. Bu | 2708 | CHN | 0 | 0 | 0 0 | ½ | ½ | * * | 1,0 | 0 | 0,0 | 2,00 |
